Unlimited
by OriginZero
Summary: A monotonous, wretched life, completely powerless. That is the life that the demon of Konoha leads. However, when he is offered the chance to gain a power greater than he could imagine, he accepts. Using the power of sealing, he moves forward to destroy and change existence. The possibilities are unlimited.
1. Prologue

**Unlimited**

Prologue

* * *

If one had been unlucky enough to be in the large village of Konohagakure on that fateful day of October 10, they would have heard explosions and screams all around them. If they had looked in the direction that the mayhem appeared to be originating from, they would have seen a sight that only the most twisted peoples' nightmares would be able to produce. A large, towering beast composed of pure energy roared at Konoha. Each swing of its multitude of tails sent building after building crashing down. Blasts of various nature-attributed energies flew through the air and impacted the behemoth, sending shockwaves of force flying everywhere, but the creature just shrugged them off like bee stings. These blasts originated from the brave shinobi who had stood up and risked their lives in order to protect their home. However, men and women fell, one after another, as the beast ravaged the land. Even as their comrades fell around them, the warriors had one lingering hope.

"Just hold it back until the Fourth reaches here!" Unfortunately, words couldn't beat an opponent like this one. Slowly but surely, the creature advanced upon the central part of the village. Shinobi and kuniochi attempted in vain to impede the advance. Children cried. Women weeped. Men shook. There was no doubt about it. The village would be destroyed, and all of its residents would be slaughtered. With a loud screech, the monster began collecting energy in its mouth. As the beam shot forwards with the force of a falling star, everyone closed their eyes. It was all over. They were finished. And then it happened.

A golden flash lit up the world, erasing all doubt, worry, and fear in everyone's minds. The energy blast was gone, the only evidence of it having existed in the first place being a large noise and quake in the distance, A cheer began to arise.

"The Fourth is here! We are saved!" A large toad, competing with the fox monster's size, was sitting boldly and yet regally between the fox and the village's central area. A man with long, golden locks stood on top of the amphibian, wind making his cloak flutter. Another golden flash appeared, making the man, the toad, and the fox all vanish into the shadows of the dark night. What happened after that was ordered to be concealed to the public for eternity. All any of the residents of the partially destroyed village saw was a large column of death energy erupting in the distance, and the horrible shriek that signified the fox's pain. As a result, no one would know exactly how their beloved Fourth had died, and who the small, newborn baby with the golden hair was. That would change the life of what could have been a kind, innocent boy forever. The demon was dead, but in the eyes of the village, a new demon was born.

* * *

A young boy, seemingly about five years of age, stared sorrowfully at the other children playing in the local park. His long, golden locks fluttered about in the slight breeze, framing his childish face and accentuating his bright sapphire eyes. However, the clean, clear blue pools were shadowed by a hollow look; the boy had faced challenges and dangers that no one should. Despite this, the dominant expression on the boy's face was one of pure and utter loneliness. If he approached the other laughing and smiling children, they would immediately be escorted away for no apparent reason. The boy wasn't stupid; he knew that he was the problem. However the answer to exactly why he was such a disturbance evaded the boy's mind. He turned away. There was no point in contemplating his misfortune and increasing the severity of the pain. Shoving his hands into his pockets, the boy wore an expression much older than the features of his young face should have formed. Passing most other villagers in mutual abstention of recognizing the others' existence, he wandered through the streets.

"Demon…" The whispers never failed to come. The boy had already learned to ignore them along with the ones who formed the sounds. His vocabulary encompassed the term, but he failed to see how he came even close to its definition. The boy continued walking, lost in his own thoughts. He had long learned that acknowledging the existence of his surroundings would only cause more trouble and pain for him, so he put a part of his brain into autopilot. Meandering through the maze of streets, the boy realized that he had left the residential and commercial areas of the village and had entered the back alleyways. That wasn't good. Here, he was far more open to a discrete attack by some person with a vendetta that the boy had never caused. As he looked around, the boy realized that he didn't know which way he had come from. The sound of a falling can caught his attention. Whirling around, the boys spotted a cat skirting into another nearby alley. Relief momentarily overcame the boy, until a sharp blow caught him on his back.

"It's the demon! Ha! I'm in luck!" The attacker seemed to be aware of the boy's identity. The boy growled. He just wanted to be left alone! He sent a ferocious kick towards the attacker, who dodged easily. The boy stared intently, slowly reading his opponent's style. The other man's movements were far too fluid to be a civilian, which left only the possibility of a shinobi or another warrior. Either way, the man had to be trained in some specific style which used his strengths with maximum efficiency. However, the cost of this strength was making his movements predictable. As the two dodged and exchanged blows, the boy began to get used to his opponent's style. When the muscles in the forearms tightened, the boy read a blow to his shoulder. When the attacker crouched slightly, the boy jumped to avoid a sweeping kick. After the man had delivered a straight punch, the boy read an opening and delivered an attack of his own. However, his young, untrained muscles barely inflicted damage on the older, trained warrior. To top it off, the boy couldn't even use chakra! The man was panting lightly, but the boy was gasping with exhaustion. The man smirked in triumph.

"How pitiful. Did you really think you could beat me? You scum, you killed my wife and destroyed my ability to mold chakra. You must suffer for all you have done. DIE!" The man swung his fists at the boy who was far too tired to resist. Blow after blow connected with the five-year-old, until his consciousness began to fade. The man drew back his fist for a finally strike; this one would end it all.

"What do you think you are doing?" An old, wizened man had appeared behind the boy's opponent, hunched on his cane. The aged creature gave off a feeling of utter brittleness, as if one touch would tear his veined skin and shatter his bones. This picture was ruined by the fact that the old man had stopped his younger counterpart's fist with one finger hooking it.

"W-what?! Who are you?" The younger man lashed out at the boy's savior, who simply blocked all of the attacks with no effort whatsoever. This display of implied power served its purpose; the younger man was clearly becoming enraged. Finally, the old man seemed to have enough.

"Stop." A piece of paper with symbols arranged in a complex design was stuck onto the attacker's chest. The man barely had any time to look down in surprise before he collapsed. Naruto's shoulders sagged slightly in relief, but the old man stayed alert.

"Keep up your guard, child." Naruto barely had any time to react before a hail of shuriken shot towards him. The old man quickly pulled him out of the way. A blast of fire shot at the duo, but the old man clutched Naruto's shoulder and they vanished in a swirl of leaves. After reappearing in another alley, the old man let go of Naruto and tapped the walls. A ripple of blue energy spread out.

"We aren't done yet!" Somehow, the assailant had managed to follow them to that very spot. The old man faced his opponent.

"It seems that you have no idea of exactly how grave your situation is. I can see through your disguise." The attacker flinched slightly before chuckling, then transitioning into an insane bout of laughter.

"I should have known better than to think that I could have tricked you." Suddenly, the average-looking man distorted slightly. Naruto recognized it as a henge being removed. The new appearance of the opponent was a reasonably tall male figure wearing a black cloak with a red-cloud pattern. His face was hidden by a spiral-patterned orange mask.

"Tobi…" The old man growled. The newly identified Tobi began to blur out of existence, almost as if he was blending into the air. The old man quickly held up a circular object with a spiral pattern embossed on it. Tobi stopped blurring.

"Wha…"

"This is the dimension lock seal. Although it is incomplete, you won't be able to use your space-time techniques with it active." Tobi growled.

The old man smiled and continued. "Additionally, I've rigged this area with dozens of explosive tags. Unless you wish to blow yourself up, I suggest you disappear."

"You fool! It'll kill you too, and the boy!"

The old man shook his head. "I am an old man, and my next breath could be my last. I have no fear of dying, unlike you. As for the boy, his death would be as much of a loss to you as it would to me." Once again, Tobi growled with frustration.

"You have merely delayed the inevitable. I will return and fetch the boy, simply after you can no longer protect him." With that, the masked man vanished in a pillar of flame.

The boy's savior looked at the young boy behind next to him.

"Are you okay?" A tone kindness like the boy had never heard directed towards him before reached him and warmed his insides.

"Y-yes. Thanks you for saving me." The old man crinkled his eyes and stretched his lips into a wide smile.

"It was no problem." He slowly returned the spiral object, which Naruto now identified as some kind of a golden pendant, into his pocket.

"What is that? Is that how you're so strong?" The boys eyed the man's pocket greedily; information on any power that he could attain would prove to be invaluable. The old man laughed.

"It is indeed. This is called a seal. It can allow even an old geezer like me to fight!" He noticed the boy's interest in the object. The old man had heard of him before. The demon who wore the Fourth's appearance was standing before him. Yet, the man felt no animosity. This boy had suffered enough to make up for any misdeeds he had committed. Also, he knew that there was another relation, one that he couldn't disclose until the boy was old enough to understand. The man decided then.

"I will offer you the chance to learn the art of sealing." The boy's head shot up. Cool, blue eyes stared disbelievingly into a pair of warm brown ones.

"Why should I trust you? What do you want out of this?" The man chuckled softly. The boy knew the man's intentions, and vice versa.

"In exchange, you must continue using and evolving those techniques. I am an old man, and I will die soon. I need to pass on my knowledge to another before I vacate this world. I have no one else to choose, while you have nowhere else to go. Sealing is a versatile power. If you use it correctly, it can grant you practically unlimited power. You will be able to change everything. Now, tell me. Will you accept this offer?" The boy deliberated. On one hand, he could continue his wretched life the way it had been until now. Otherwise, he could step into an entirely different world and perhaps change things for the better. The choice was obvious. The boy nodded in affirmation. The old man smiled.

"Good. Now, boy, will you tell me your name?" The boy stared suspiciously, but decided there was no harm. This man would be his teacher, and he needed to put at least a little trust into him.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

This is a new story that I'm planning on beginning and continuing for quite some time. This is only the first chapter/prologue, so chapters from this point forwards will be longer. Please read and review! Any constructive criticism and advice will be gladly accepted and taken into account when writing future chapters. I hope to continue this story for a long time!

Edit: 8/8/13: Modified chapter


	2. Prologue II

**Unlimited**

Prologue II

* * *

Naruto was happier than he'd ever been in his short, miserable life. Not only did he have a comfortable home, but he now had a sensei with who he could converse with freely. The old man had taken him to a small, inconspicuous building far from the center of the village. The old man had opened an old wooden door and had ushered Naruto into the darkness past the entrance. Walking into the shadows, Naruto had felt around. After the old man had turned on the room's lights, Naruto had been stunned. The 'room' was actually a large library with towering bookshelves filled with various volumes. Naruto had never seen so many books in his life! The old man had smiled at his reaction. Naruto had thanked the man for providing him with his new path, and had fumbled when he attempted to form the other's name. The old man had chuckled.

"Call me sensei," he'd said.

Naruto's sensei had left the main room in order to rest, leaving Naruto the chance to explore. That's where he was now. This was incredible! The childish part of Naruto's brain injected the idea of adventure into his thoughts, and he was seized by a sudden urge to discover exactly how far the shelves extended to. Naruto began walking, lightly touching each book that he could. He gazed at some of the titles, but his uneducated mind wasn't able to fully comprehend them. Staring in front of him, Naruto realized that he couldn't see the end of the room! He wondered if the library extended underground, which is how its large size was accounted for. He continued walking, making finger lines on dusty tables that he passed. He paused when he saw a doorway placed in the middle of two large shelves. His curiosity piqued, Naruto grabbed the handle with his small hands and turned. The door didn't budge. Throwing all of his weight onto the tarnished metal object, he was able to open the offending door slightly. Naruto's skinny physique was actually useful now. He squeezed into the small crack and emerged at the other end. The room he had now entered was much smaller, about the size of a small house. Much of its space was taken up by mountains of books and scrolls. However, Naruto's keen eyes noticed a difference between these dusty volumes and the books outside. Walking up to the closest scroll and picking it up, Naruto read the simple title: _The Art of Sealing_. Naruto stared at it, confused. A shred of memory ignited in his mind, recalling the mention of sealing made by his sensei.

"I see that you have found this place." The sudden voice alarmed Naruto and made his instincts kick in. Whirling around, he crouched into a defensive position. He eased himself only after he realized the identity of his 'assailant'.

"At ease, at ease. As you have most likely realized, this is what I have planned to teach you. The art of sealing." Naruto looked back at the collection of information. Sealing. What exactly was it?

"What is sealing? What does it do?" The old man smiled at Naruto's inquiry.

"Sealing is considered weak my many, but I can tell you this: sealing has nearly unlimited potential. By combining symbols, knowledge, and chakra, you will be able to perform almost any task as long as you put your mind and body to it." Naruto's eyes gleamed. This was excellent!

"I must warn you, however. If you want a flashy jutsu or powerful attack, then sealing is not the proper thing for you. You must fully utilize strategy and traps in order to use sealing to its fullest capabilities." Naruto had no problem with that. He had, after all, lived for as long as he could recall, surviving by using just his wits. Suddenly, Naruto remembered something. His stomach dropped.

"U-um… I have to confess something… I can't form and mold chakra outside of my body…" The old man looked at Naruto's clearly nervous form.

"I know that already. It is because of your… condition." Naruto looked up. His sensei knew about that?

"You have undoubtedly noticed the strange pattern of symbols on your stomach. That is a prime example of sealing. That seal prevents you from emitting chakra, lest it go out of control. Fear not, however, as that is of little consequence. Sealing will only require chakra charge, which you should be able to perform." Naruto sagged with relief. He had almost lost his new life for a moment.

"We will begin our lessons tomorrow in the morning. If you so wish, you may take residence in this room. Be prepared." With those words, the old man left. Naruto looked around and spotted a small bed in the corner. He walked over and lied down on it, pondering on the events that happened. He would excel at sealing. There was no alternative. Using this power, he would bring the cruel world down to its knees.

Naruto was not enjoying himself. Sitting still was not his thing. Years of paranoia had made him extremely hyper and jumpy, and he still didn't full trust his sensei. However, for the sake of advancing, Naruto bore with it.

"Today I will be teaching you about symbols. Sealing symbols are essential components the process of designing seals. The types of symbols mixed with the pattern that they are arranged in all change the effect that the final product will yield. This is a basic symbol…" Naruto concentrated as hard as he could. He realized that once he got past the sitting still portion of the lesson, he actually had begun to enjoy himself. The interesting sealing theory combined with his anticipation on designing and creating his own led to his near obsession with the art. Naruto stayed awake the entire night reading up on sealing, and demolished the set of practice questions that his sensei had given him the next morning. The old man laughed.

"You surprise me! I have never seen such rapid growth!" Naruto continued to study in his free time between lessons. His sensei was bemused. Naruto's incredible advance along with his apparent passion for the art led his sensei to move on to more advanced topics early on.

"I am going to begin teaching you how to craft seals starting with tomorrow's lesson. All of the knowledge about sealing theory that you have accumulated will be put to test here." Naruto had almost jumped out of his chair in joy when that particular piece of news had been told to him.

"One of the most basic types of seals is the chakra conductor seal. If you inscribe this onto an object, chakra will be able to travel through it with no problem. There are only a handful of symbols required to construct this seal, and they are simple ones. Let me show you…" That night, Naruto had snuck a bottle of ink and a stylus into his small room. He experimented with dozens upon dozens of combinations of various symbols. Putting a chakra conductor seal (whose pattern he had committed to memory) in the middle of a net of other powering, charging, transporting, and conducting symbols in the correct pattern, Naruto had created a bastardized version of the conducting seal. After demonstrating it to his sensei in the next lesson, Naruto had taken great pleasure in watching a shocked expression spread across the aged man's face. After a moment, the older man spoke.

"Do you realize what you have just created, boy? This is a modified version of a transportation seal which you shouldn't be able to create for another few months! Even at your growth rate!" Naruto had smiled proudly as his sensei laughed in utter disbelief. The man's face broke out into a grin.

"Well, there seems to be no point in learning the basics! Let's move on to what I really want to teach you!" The two's relationship became considerably closer after that, and Naruto began to think of his sensei as the father that he never had. Naruto's life was great.

* * *

**Three Years Later**

* * *

It was a cold, rainy day. Fog lined the chilled streets of Konoha, seeping into each road and alley. Naruto was walking between two tall buildings, traveling back to the library. Now eight years of age, Naruto had visibly matured both in physical appearance and mannerisms. He carried himself with a slightly dignified air in complete contrast to the excitement the he was feeling. He had made major progress on his new seal design and couldn't wait to tell his sensei. Lengthening his stride slightly, Naruto turned a corner, finding himself in the perpetually deserted back alleys of Konoha. He continued walking, lost in his thoughts, until a scream shattered his imaginings. Naruto flinched slightly, but the rational part of his brain took over. It would be better to ignore the occurrence and never look back. However, Naruto had been caught in a similar situation three years prior, when he first met his sensei when the aged man had come to rescue him. The man would be disappointed in him if he realized that Naruto had left someone in a predicament without so much a thought at coming to the victim's aid. Naruto sighed. He would do it. Sprinting towards the source, Naruto whirled corners and dashed past buildings. The opponent seemed to be a shinobi, judging by the erratic way their strong chakra signature was moving. Naruto smirked. There was no way anyone would be able to escape him in this part of the village. Running into an alleyway, Naruto quickly scribbled a complex pattern of symbols onto the walls. He then sprinted to the opposite side of the now paused chakra signature. Pulling a custom-made exploding tag out of his pocket, Naruto stuck it onto a fragile-looking brick wall. He dashed for cover.

"BOOOOOOM!" The loud explosion had obviously caught the assailant's senses, as the chakra signature zoomed away from Naruto's location. The young boy smirked. Just as planned. He activated his long-ranged chakra canceler. With that, the shinobi should be paralyzed and helpless in the alley. Naruto rushed towards the location, smiling when he saw that his trap had worked. A hardened, battle-scarred warrior lay at his feet, clutching some precious cargo to his chest. The 'cargo' whimpered. It was human!

"Please don't hurt me too…" A young girl with black hair and white-violet eyes stared at him in fright. Naruto realized that he had a ferocious look on his face. Softening his features, Naruto stepped forwards to console the girl, when something impacted his chest.

"OOOF!" The boy flew back and hit a wall. Momentarily dazed, he looked up at the enemy shinobi.

"Did you really think that a pitiful trap like that would hold me for long?" The enemy smirked. Naruto realized the true danger that he was in. Although the villagers didn't bother to hide their hatred for him, they never pushed so hard that he'd ever been in a life threatening situation. However, one glance at this ninja's forehead protector showed Naruto that he was an enemy who wouldn't hesitate to strike him down and even kill him.

"Kumo." Naruto cussed slightly under his breath.

"Well, brat? Any last words?" Naruto's mind went into overdrive. He analyzed all possibilities of escape, every weakness that the enemy showed.

"HAAH!" Lunging, Naruto slapped a chakra disturbance seal onto his opponent. Unfortunately, before it had any effect, flames burst out of the Kumo-nin's skin and charred the design into ashes. Naruto was out of ideas. The difference in their skill was too great. He noticed the girl watching them in fright. Naruto willed for her to run away. He had gotten overconfident. He couldn't even save one little girl? And he desired to change the world. There's no way it could end here! The enemy shinobi formed a myriad of red-hot flames on his hand.

"DIE!" Naruto watched the attack that would surely end his life draw closer. He closed his eyes, accepting the fact that he was going to die. There would be no sentiments wasted upon his death. He would remain a meaningless existence, one that never affected the world, like countless others.

"Splat!" Naruto heard the sound of flesh being cut and blood spilling out. Strangely, he felt no pain, just a warm wetness on his face. Naruto opened his eyes. The sight before him would haunt him for his entire life.

"S-sensei…?" The old man stood before Naruto, facing the enemy. His arms were spread out, obviously protecting his apprentice. The enemy shinobi's attack had driven itself right through the elderly man's stomach. Naruto touched his face and then looked at his fingers. He was covered in his sensei's blood. The enemy ninja seemed shocked, until a fizzing sound originated from his chest. A minor explosive tag placed by the old man disposed of the offender.

"Naru…to…" The old man coughed up blood. Naruto looked on in horror.

"Sensei! No! You aren't dying!" Naruto moved to draw a stasis seal on the man's stomach, but a wizened hand caught his own.

"I… am and old… man… I will… die… but please, Na…ruto… continue the le…gacy of… sealing… accomplish yo…ur ambition…" The old man seemed to have exerted almost all of his remaining energy delivering that sentence. Naruto looked upon the dying face of the only human he had been close to, his eyes glistening with tears. The old man touched Naruto's forehead, leaving a streak of blood there. He smiled with great effort, one last time.

"N-Naru…to… you have… ma…de me pr…oud…" The old man's arm fell down, and his body laid still.

"SENSEI! NO! DON'T DIE, SENSEI! PLEASE! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I HAVE…" The boy's screams tapered off and turned into incoherent wails of agony. He threw himself onto the dead man's corpse.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Later, officials would see the dead body of the Kumo-nin and piece together what had happened. The young girl, Hinata Hyuuga, would provide key information as well. However, everyone refused to believe her far-fetched tale of a boy and a dead man saving her. There had been no evidence at the scene of the crime. The matter was slowly closed, although the compensation for the death of the Kumo-nin would further stain the hearts of the Hyuuga Clan. No one had noticed a small boy weeping near the outskirts of the village, standing on the edge of the ocean, covered in blood. No one saw him stare forlornly into the distance, as if searching for something precious that he had lost. No one paid any attention to the small boy with the golden hair and sapphire-blue eyes in the days that followed the kidnapping. However, unknown to all, that day changed the boy. That was the day Naruto Uzumaki vowed: he would destroy the corrupted parts world and rebuild it into a peaceful, happy place. After all, the world is like a phoenix: it seems bright, but it must be consumed by flames before being reborn, and only through its tears can it heal. That was the day Naruto Uzumaki swore to make the unlimited possibilities into one: his ambition.

* * *

Okay! That's done! Next chapter will begin at canon, when all of the main characters enter the academy. Hopefully I made it emotional enough; I'm not that good at writing sad fics in my opinion.

This is still the prologue, so I updated it fairly quickly, but expect weekly to every two weeks updates. If I have time, I'll update it faster.

Any and all constructive criticism will be gladly accepted, but please keep it constructive.

I don't have any thoughts about pairings as of right now, so I may take reviews into account or just leave it without any pairings for the time being.

Thank you to those of you that reviewed! I appreciate it!

Finally, please read and review!


	3. Chapter 1: The Initial Stage

**Chapter 1: The Initial Stage**

* * *

The morning was a bright and sunny one. Crowds of people were milling around on the streets, sometimes seeing a familiar face and interacting. The gentle wind blew through the scene, and quiet chatter was heard. It was a picture of absolute peace and tranquility, and happiness was evident from the content looks on the pedestrians' faces. However, the chatter died down and joyful expressions vanished, almost in a slow wave. The cause for this drastic mood shift was evident: a young boy with golden hair and bright blue eyes was strolling down the street. Almost instinctively, villagers began to shift in order to get away from the boy. Disgusted expressions contrasted the complete and utter disregard of the boy's existence. Obviously, these actions were nothing new, judging by the almost rehearsed looks that they had attached to them. Ordinarily, these minute things would have easily hurt an average person, even driving them to the point of madness. However, the target seemed to be unable to care less. The boy was nonchalantly gazing at products lined up in the windows of small shops even as their respective owners drew their blinds. Naruto Uzumaki was used to this. After his sensei's death, small things like these barely affected him. Anyways, he had much better things to do than wail about his unfair treatment by the ignorant citizens of Konoha. He had long learned that life wasn't fair.

Naruto looked ahead, into the bright morning sun. Today was one of the most important days of his life. If all went well, he would no longer be forced to wear the title of a helpless civilian. He had waited for this day, worked down to his last drops of energy each and every day. Today was the day when he would graduate from the Academy and finally become an official shinobi of the Leaf. Naruto knew that he would easily be able to pass under normal circumstances, but even a glimpse of his daily life showed that his were anything from that state. Naruto was no fool. He knew that some teacher with a misdirected vendetta would attempt to sabotage his exams. Heck, they'd been doing it for his entire academic career! The boy shook his head. Those fools who would deliberately hamper the progress of one of the Academy's most promising potential shinobi simply because of their own ignorance did not even deserve to wear the title of teacher.

Naruto noticed that he was seeing more children accompanied by parents as he went on. Ignoring the slight pain in his heart, he noted that the Academy must be close. He looked critically at some children walking a significant distance in front of him.

"It appears that the Academy's standards have dropped even further." Naruto sighed. There was a reason why the village of Konoha, arguably the most powerful of the hidden villages, was laughed at. Its shinobi were less highly trained killing machines and more kids who wanted to go on an adventure. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as he stepped on the brick path leading up to the Academy's gates. Ducking behind one of the many large trees that surrounded the school's wall, he took a small piece of paper and stuck it to his chest. Opening one of his hands, he sent chakra to the area and saw an intricate seal appear on his palm. His sensei had explained about his condition and his… tenant, for lack of a better term, and how those factors had affected his ability to mold chakra outside of his body. However, Naruto had found a way to bypass the obstacle using his custom made seals. He pressed the now glowing palm against his forehead.

"_Activate!_" he whispered. Almost immediately, the image of slightly tall, lean Naruto with his golden locks and haunted, blue eyes was replaced with an average-looking brown haired boy whom at which no one would look twice. Naruto had been using this trick for over a year now. It had allowed him to enter his class with significantly less occurrences with his fellow shinobi in training. Naruto slipped back into the crowd, mingling in the swarm of excited children.

"What are you gonna do during the break?" Naruto heard one of many voices repeating the essentially same phrase. The idea of break was on everyone's minds, and naturally so, considering the civilian school-like setup that had been implemented in the Academy.

"Probably just play! I can't wait!" A voice returned the question. Naruto rolled his eyes. One could not even begin to imagine these children becoming cold, heartless killers within a few years. But then again, he mused, a few years had done quite a bit to change himself.

"I know right? It's going to be awesome!" Naruto exited the crowd once he passed the gates that signified entrance into the school grounds. He immediately began to head towards his classroom, avoiding any unnecessary talk with others. He changed his appearance nearly every week and he himself was obviously disliked, so it wasn't as if he and his illusion had any close friends to begin with. He encountered little trouble in the hallways and managed to reach the room within a couple of minutes. Standing before the large wooden door, Naruto paused. Something was slightly off. Naruto gripped the doorknob, but was unable to twist. The door seemed to be locked. Sighing, Naruto simply got out a small bottle of ink and a brush. He drew a temporary seal on the offending object and sent a chakra current through the intricate design. With a click, the door swung open. He canceled his illusion and packed up his supplies. Walking through the door, Naruto's instincts screamed at him to duck.

WOOOOOOOOOSH! A kunai imbedded itself into the wall of the hallway directly behind him. Shoving the realization that he had narrowly escaped from being impaled in his own classroom out of his mind, Naruto looked at where he had calculated the kunai had originated from. It was cleverly concealed, but a small, dangling rope told the boy that it was a preset trap. Whirling to his right, Naruto swung his left foot in a perfect arc. However, it was blocked by a metallic object. Spotting a disturbance in the shadows, Naruto used his brush to deflect a stab at his heart.

"Who are you? This isn't funny at all!" When he got no response, Naruto decided that talking and reasoning was useless. His mind raced, calculating all of the possibilities of his assailant's identity. It could be someone with a grudge against him, but that was unlikely. No one knew about his expertise in sealing, and so his opponent wouldn't have locked the door. The most likely possibility was that the person simply had wanted to be left alone, and being in a dark room while others were happily interacting outside strengthened that idea. However, the kunai trap showed that they had a blatant indifference to another being injured. That, combined with their proficiency in taijutsu, left only a few options. Naruto went with the most likely one.

"Teme? Do you want to be expelled on your last day?" Naruto's opponent paused for a split second, giving Naruto all the evidence and time that he needed. Naruto kicked Sasuke straight in his stomach, sending the boy flying. Quickly constructing a seal on some scrap paper, Naruto slapped it onto the last Uchiha's chest. Naruto then calmly strode over to the lught switch and turned them on, illuminating the classroom. Blinking a few times to remove the effects of sudden light change, Naruto looked to the other end of the classroom to find the raven-haired boy glaring at him.

"So, teme, would you like to explain?" Both of the residents of the room knew that Naruto knew the reason. Thus, neither was surprised when a silence fell upon the two once again. After a minute, Sasuke spoke.

"Remove this paralyzing technique!" Naruto looked at him, uninterested. Walking closer he noticed slight anticipation on the other boy's face.

"It'll come off in a few minutes. Why don't you enjoy your time-out until then?" Naruto expected another complaint, but was surprised when all the other boy did was smirk.

"Idiot." Naruto realized his mistake when he stepped on a thin, barely seeable wire, breaking it. Strong cables shot at him from every corner of the room. Before he could react, Naruto was bound head to toe. Not only that, but his initial momentum caused him to rather unceremoniously fall down right next to Sasuke. This time, Naruto glared while the other boy smirked.

"How do ya like that, teme?" Naruto glared harder. This always happened. Naruto nearly always beat Sasuke initially, only to have an unexpected event (more often than not courtesy of Sasuke's fangirls) give the raven-haired boy the advantage. To the class, it appeared that Sasuke won every time. This time, Naruto would remain bound for the entire class to see while Sasuke would be silently gloating at his desk, free from the temporary paralysis seal. There was no way that Naruto would allow it to end the same way this time.

"Shut your mouth, teme!" Naruto rolled over and touched his fingers to his seal construct. The design glowed blue for a moment.

"What did you do, dobe?" The Uchiha's panicked voice was like music to Naruto's ears.

"Well, I simply may have made the trap… I dunno… permanent?" Naruto relished the moment when Sasuke's eyes nearly doubled in size. Naruto wouldn't lose anything by being seen in this position, but Sasuke had his reputation of being the rookie of the year to maintain. Suddenly, Naruto thought of an excellent plan.

"Listen, teme, why don't we both release each other and be on our way? It _is_ our last day, after all!" The Uchiha looked at him, suspicious. Ordinarily, Naruto would never make that proposition, and Sasuke knew it. He shook his head.

"Okay, fine. I guess it _would_ be entertaining to see the class's reaction to their favorite classmate beaten by the dead last!" Sasuke's eyes widened again. After a few seconds, he grudgingly nodded.

"Okay. I can't release you unless I can move myself, so you'll have to unbind me first." The Uchiha knew that he was putting Naruto into an extremely advantageous position, but he had no choice. Sasuke cut of his chakra flow to the cables. Naruto got up as the offending articles slackened, and stretched.

"Ah! That was nice!" He then picked up the still paralyzed Sasuke and placed him in his seat, moving his limbs and shifting his expression to make him look perfectly natural. Naruto painted additional symbols onto the seal construct.

"What are…. Mmph! Mmph!" Naruto was barely able to prevent himself from laughing at Sasuke's plight.

"As you can see, I've prevented you from speaking. I've also added… something else. Don't worry; the seal will disappear in about… I'd say 15 minutes!" Naruto then walked away to sit in his own seat at the back of the classroom, leaving the Uchiha to his fate.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, and all of Naruto's classmates poured in from the door. The chatter remained even as the students began to disperse into their own seats. However, the relatively peaceful mood ws shattered by two girls' argument.

"I'M GOING TO SIT NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN!" The two, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, were two of Sasuke's biggest fangirls. Day in and day out they fought over the last Uchiha. The only thing that prevented Naruto from cracking and giving them a piece of his mind was the fact that they were probably better kuniochi than most of the other students.

"NO WAY! I AM!" Sakura sprinted down the aisle and claimed the coveted seat.

"Sasuke-kun wants me to sit here too, right?" Sakura cooed. To the Uchiha's horror and to Naruto's delight, Sasuke nodded, a blue light barely visible through his shirt. Everyone else who was watching the fiasco paused. _Sasuke Uchiha had accepted Sakura?_ Some checked outside just to make sure that the world wasn't ending.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAASUUUUUUUUUUUUKEEEEEEEEEEE-KUUUUUUUUU UN!" Sakura screamed in delight and began snuggling against the object of her affection. Everyone expected Sasuke to throw her off, but Naruto's seal still held. Sasuke was forced to endure ten minutes of Sakura fawning over him. Naruto, in the meantime, had placed an array of silencing seals around him and was roaring in silent laughter. That was the scene that Iruka Umino walked into.

"SHUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUP!" Iruka screamed. Naruto stoped laughing and became serious. He couldn't afford to trip up here simply because of this little prank. The class eventually returned to order. Naruto's seal curled up and vanished. Iruka opened his mouth.

"I don't want to slip into a long speech about what it means to be a shinobi. You should know that already. However, I have a few words to tell you. Never forget your goals, dreams and ambitions. When you are a shinobi, you will undoubtedly be faced with challenges that you will believe impossible to overcome. That is only natural. However, the message that I want all of you to remember is this: the strongest are not so because they aim to hurt; they are so because they aim to protect. With that, I wish you good luck for your exams. Should you pass, you will enter an entirely different world. Chances are, this will be the last time I talk to you." The ominous message underlying Iruka's words gave birth to a silence, one that even the most hyper of students partook in. The students who were once acting as if they were going on a field trip now just seemed to be accepting the true face of the occupation that they were aiming for. Naruto barely suppressed a snort. It was about time. He glanced at the pile of papers that had appeared on his desk, courtesy of built-in storage scrolls (Naruto's own idea, by the way. Iruka owed him one.) and sighed. Written exams. Always such a bore. Naruto sped through the questions, some actually helpful, most useless. Who invented the spring kunai, calculate the velocity of a shuriken, what valley connects Fire Country with Rice Country, and so on. Naruto finished about half an hour before time was up and doodled various seal structures on his papers to wait. The written exam was always made to be pathetically easy. The true test was in the physical exams.

"All right! Time's up!" The papers vanished, melting into the wooden faces of their respective desks.

"Follow me to your physical exams!" With a loud grinding noise, all of the students pushed back their seats and got up. Naruto stretched. Time to get real. He followed at the back of the class as they walked to the practice field.

* * *

There were three main portions of the physical exam: weapons, taijutsu, and general fitness. All three were relatively simple to pass by the Academy's standards; only the weakest and least skilled of participants would fail it. Naruto managed to land a bull's eye on every kunai and shuriken that he threw. He had trained specifically of accuracy due to the potential danger a badly thrown seal-equipped kunai could create. The general fitness portion was pretty easy as well. Even though he spent most of his time in the library researching and creating new seal designs, Naruto still trained his body every day. Then it was time to do the last area that was tested. His taijutsu was horrible. Not only did his hateful teachers show him wrong stances and the like, but he was always denied entrance to any kind of training class. To make things even worse, this was the only portion of the exam that was public. Everyone would see him fail, once again. Naruto sighed.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Hearing his name called, Naruto walked into the ring. He had to show proper technique against the teacher that he was facing. If the rules were to last for three minutes or something like that, Naruto could have actually passed. However, his technique was worse than some first-years.

"Okay, Naruto, come on!" At least he was facing Iruka-sensei. The man was the only teacher that treated him like everyone else. Any other instructor would never let him out without more than a few bruises.

Naruto tensed, and then sprang. Iruka met his punch with one of his own, and smoothly transitioned into another attack. However, Naruto's no-style street fighting technique threw him off balance. He barely had time to block Iruka's kick before falling to the ground.

"Come on, Naruto! Is that all?" Iruka-sensei seemed disappointed. The man seemed to think that Naruto had completed the rest of his exams in a similar fashion. Naruto frowned. He wouldn't go down without proving himself first.

"AAAHHHH!" With a yell that surprised the scarred chuunin, Naruto twisted his body and threw a devastating right hook. Although Iruka dodged the attack, Naruto used the momentum and swung his left leg in an arc. With a sickening crunch, Naruto landed a hit. The sound of Naruto's heel impacting Iruka's chest was heard from many dozen meters away. The instructor obviously had not expected the attack, and was reeling back from momentary pain. Naruto used that precious time to strike his teacher one more time, this time in his… area. All of the males in the audience winced. However, Iruka wasn't a chuunin for nothing. He shot out his hand in a focused strike and threw Naruto to the ground. Before the boy could move, Iruka temporarily paralyzed Naruto with a weak lightning jutsu.

"Although you managed to land some good hits, your technique was deplorable. I'm sorry, but I am forced to fail you on this part of the exam." Naruto's heart sunk for a second, but the depression was suddenly converted into anger. He had fought perfectly fine! It was his teachers' fault for not showing him the proper technique! Why was he suffering the consequences?

"However, I will admit that you fought well regardless. Because of that and your scores in all of the other categories, I will pass you if you're able to pass the ninjutsu portion." Naruto was stunned. He still had a chance!

* * *

Finally, it was the last test. All of the students had come back to the classroom. An instructor had called them in one by one by last name. Thus, Naruto was forced to wait until they got to the end of the alphabet.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" It was practically his turn now. Naruto had hoped that he could gather information about the test based on previous participants, but the students who had gone in before him seemed to have taken an alternate route to go outside. He was blind, tactically speaking.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto got out of his seat and slowly meandered over to the door. Entering, he saw Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei seated behind a large desk. The wooden surface of the piece of furniture seemed to have been once filled with forehead protectors, but now there was but a few remaining. It appeared as if everyone else before him had passed. Naruto tried to think of this as a sign that the test was rather simple, but failed to conceive the possibility that anything was ever simple for him. Indeed, a foreboding air took to the room's atmosphere as Naruto placed himself before the two chuunin.

"All right, Naruto. All you have to do is perform the bunshin technique and you pass." Naruto swallowed. He had painted seal onto his arms beforehand in order to successfully use chakra. It should be fine. Placing his hands into the hand-seal position for show, Naruto channeled chakra into the painted constructs and began the technique.

"Stop! Are you trying to cheat?" Naruto looked up. Mizuki had gotten out of his chair and was pointing at his arm.

"What's wrong, Mizuki?" Iruka looked at his subordinate questioningly.

"He has something on his arms! He's obviously cheating!" Naruto stared, stunned. How had the man found out? He had planned this very moment for months, making sure that there was no problem. He had even added an anti-detection section to the construct just to make sure. There was only one explanation: the chuunin had done research on him, most likely to find any way to fail him. Naruto cringed. The worst part was that it had worked. He could do nothing as Mizuki lifted his sleeves and showed the intricate patterns to Iruka, leaving the man shocked and visibly disappointed at Naruto.

"I thought that you actually wanted to, that you had worked hard to become a shinobi. Now you do this? You've betrayed me, Naruto." Nothing could have hurt the boy more at that moment. However, showing weakness would make the moment even sweeter for Mizuki. Naruto shifted his expression into a poker face.

"Well? Get out!" Mizuki's smirk was poorly concealed as he shoved the blonde boy out of the room. Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and walked aimlessly.

"You passed? That's my boy!" Shouts of praise and bouts of laughter could be heard all around him as all of his classmates celebrated their graduation. Naruto slowly dragged himself to a small, wooden swing in the shadow of a tree and sat on it.

"Is he the one?" Some people seemed to have caught sight of him.

"Yeah. The demon."

"I'm glad he isn't a shinobi." The ignorant whispers ignited something in Naruto. The Leaf refused to accept him. It was true. The entire system was corrupt. Naruto felt anger boiling up inside of him, increasing as more vengeful thoughts seeped into his mind. If Konoha didn't want him as their shinobi, then he'd make it to the top another way. The shinobi system itself was broken; it was a useless, battered construct that only brought pain and suffering. Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice someone approach him.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Naruto looked up. Mizuki-sensei seemed to have come to offer his apologies. However, his tone was clearly fake. The man was definitely not an actor.

"Iruka and I feel bad about failing you, so we decided to give you an alternate test." The man paused. Naruto continued to stare with an uninterested gaze. The probability that the man was lying to see his hope only to squash it was high. However, Mizuki took it as interest.

"All you have to do is steal the scroll of seals! If you can do that, you'll become an official ninja of the Leaf!" Naruto mentally laughed. How stupid did this man think he was? Obviously, the chuunin was setting him up to get caught and then would take the scroll for his own use. However, and idea popped into Naruto's head. Mizuki was the one who was ultimately responsible for his failure, so he _did_ deserve a little punishment. Naruto smirked. He knew just exactly what to do.

* * *

It was late at night when the alarm went off. The announcement that the scroll of seals had been stolen was voiced throughout the entirety of the village. Mizuki smirked. The idiot demon had fallen for the bait. He mingled in a crowd of fellow chuunin just to make sure of the announcement's authenticity, not that the demon was intelligent enough to call his bluff.

"Who the hell is stupid enough to steal that?" All of the chuunin seemed to share the same, singular idea. That was all he needed. Mizuki took off in the direction of the forest. He had to be quick, before anyone else found the boy. Speeding across rooftops, Mizuki reached the entrance to the maze of trees. Jumping among the vegetation, he reached the rendezvous point in nearly no time at all. Sure enough, the idiot demon was there, along with the scroll.

"Naruto! You did it!" Mizuki called out in his friendliest voice. He jumped down from his perch and walked towards the blonde boy.

"Yeah! Does this mean that I'm a genin now?" Mizuki smiled as well as he could.

"Of course! As soon as you hand that over, you will become an official shinobi!" Internally, Mizuki cackled. It was all he could do to not express his true feelings out loud. It was just so easy!

"Okay! Here you go, Mizuki-sensei!" The boy handed the large scroll over to the chuunin, who gladly accepted it.

"Okay Naruto. However, before we leave, I have to do something." The boy leaned closer, seemingly excited at the phrase.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" With a cry of satisfaction, Mizuki threw a large fuma-shuriken directly at Naruto. He roared with insane laughter when it cut Naruto in half. However, he was more than a little surprised when Naruto reformed.

"H-how?" Naruto's happy expression had vanished, now replaced by a cold, unfeeling look. He motioned to his surroundings. There were lines of blue energy running everywhere, twisting and mingling to form elaborate designs.

"You have been caught in my illusion seal ever since you arrived at this location. You have been in a checkmate for a long time. Now, I bid you farewell. I won't miss you." Mizuki's panicked eyes latched onto the scroll that Naruto now held. Before his lips could form the question, the chuunin saw the paper that he held. It sported a large, magnified seal construct, resembling a modified exploding tag.

"N-N-NOOOOOOOOO…..!" Mizuki's cry of anguish was cut off when the explosion blasted him into shreds. Naruto simply turned around and walked away from the bloody mess. Mizuki's punishment had been served, and Naruto would be able to claim that he had heard the explosion and had come to find that the traitorous thief of the scroll of seals had accidently blown himself up. He was sure to be promoted for that. Naruto smirked. Even though Mizuki had initially prevented him from becoming a shinobi, it was ironically through him that Naruto had eventually become so.

"Well, all's good for now." Naruto sped back to the village. It was time for the next chapter in the history of the world. Beware of Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

That's the first 'real' chapter completed. Thanks to all of you that reviewed, I really appreciate it! I'll leave author's notes at the end of each chapter, in which I'll answer questions, give updates, etc. Please don't hesitate to give me any constructive criticism and advice about the story, be it pertaining to the plot or to my writing itself. Finally, please continue to read and review!


	4. Chapter 2: Team 7

**Chapter 2: Team 7**

* * *

Naruto was rather annoyed. He was sitting in his classroom in the Academy, waiting while some important person high on the Academy's hierarchy lectured them about shinobi life. The students should already know what they were getting themselves into when they enrolled in the Academy. Anyways, the only reason why he had actually decided to attend the meeting was in order to enter his team. Technically, he could have simply entered the room right before team selection began, but he didn't want to risk some unreasonable punishment. He was close to the point when ordinary civilian rules wouldn't be able to touch him, and he wouldn't risk that for anything. Not even for escaping these hours of boredom.

Naruto shot a quick glance at the old clock hanging on the wall of the classroom. Just a few minutes before team assignments would be brought to the room and announced. He sighed. How useless.

"As you can see, the points which I have outlined are critical in becoming an excellent shinobi. They are certain to help you in your careers…" The speaker continued, seemingly wrapping up his hour-long speech. Of course, there had been many, many false alarms in the duration of the speech. However, the clock indicated that this truly was the end of the torture. Naruto snorted at the absolute B.S. that the speaker was claiming to be true.

"Do you have some problem, demon?" A teacher seemed to have caught onto Naruto's brief amusment, perhaps carefully watching him to find some excuse to delay his becoming of a shinobi. The man advanced on Naruto quickly, but was prevented from continuing when the door was slammed open and a small, nervous woman skittered in. She handed a paper to another teacher and then immediately left the room. After a brief silence, the other man spoke.

"Well, these are your team assignments. Team 1 will be…" Naruto sighed and nestled his head into his folded arms. He didn't expect to be called until the later team assignments, as there was a general rule to place the teams with more potential at the end.

"Okay, all members of Team 6, please head over to the designated room to meet your new jounin sensei. Now, Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Uchiha Sasuke. Please wait in this room for your new jounin sensei." The announcer seemed to snicker a bit when he said the word 'wait'. Naruto raised his eyebrows, wondering if he'd missed anything.

"SAAASUUUUKEEE-KUUUN!" Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs, lunging towards the disgruntled Uchiha. Naruto sighed once again. His team seemed to be, as Shikamaru would have said, troublesome.

* * *

It was quite a bit of time after the last team had been called and everyone except for the members of the newly formed Team 7 had vacated the room. On their way out, nearly all of the staff members had smirked at Naruto, some even flipping him off. Once again, Naruto had gotten the bad feeling that he was going to experience some kind of a bad joke. He'd gotten confirmation for that about 20 minutes later, when he realized that his new jounin sensei seemed to have the annoying habit of being very unpunctual.

Naruto lifted his head from his desk, fighting the urge to go to sleep. As he glanced around, he saw a scene that he expected would be fairly common in his team. Sakura pestering Sasuke. Oh joy. At least the Uchiha seemed to be suffering more than Naruto.

Naruto got up and stretched his sore limbs. He ignored the disinterested glance from Sasuke and packed up the seal designs which he had doodled on spare scraps of paper to pass time. Naruto grinned. If his sensei wanted to be late, he was going to have to pay the price.

Naruto took out some paper and quickly scribbled a hasty seal construct onto the material. He then walked over to the chalkboard at the back of the classroom and picked up an eraser.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Naruto glanced back. His activity after over an hour of being practically completely still seemed to pique the curiosity of his teammate. Of course, Sakura was probably annoyed that he had diverted Sasuke's attention.

"Just wait and watch the master." Naruto wrapped his seal construct around the dusty eraser, making sure the do it perfectly. He then slowly ambled to the door at the front of the classroom, placing the eraser on top of the door.

"Hey! Naruto, you idiot! That's against the rules!" Naruto glanced at Sakura with a grin on his face.

"You know you want to see it too!" Sakura simply looked away. Naruto's grin widened.

Suddenly, the three of them froze. Footsteps could be heard in the hallway. Naruto leaped silently to his desk and assumed a nonchalant pose there, not unlike his brooding teammate's own. Sakura seemed to be deciding whether to remove the trap or not, but her desire to get revenge on their unpunctual sensei seemed to overtake her rule-following state of mind. As the footsteps got louder, the three leaned forward anticipation. The person was almost there...

The footsteps stopped. Naruto's brow wrinkled in confusion. Had the person detected the trap and was looking for a way to disable it and impress their new students? Had the person recognized that the seals on the eraser created a… fun outcome? He thought that he'd placed a fairly strong anit-detection seal in it, though. He looked around and saw that both of his teammates seemed to be in a similar state of confusion. However, all three stopped again as the footsteps returned, though this time it seemed to be two pairs of feet which caused the noises.

"Hatake-san! It's a pleasure! Did you need me for something?" Naruto gulped. Why was Iruka-sensei here?

"No, no. Your students asked for you, however. It seemed to be urgent. I'm sure they just wanted to say goodbye or something. You must be an excellent teacher for that!" Naruto could detect the smugness in the unrecognizable voice as the pair drew closer.

"Haha, I guess so. My students do seem…" The duo had reached the door of the classroom and Iruka had opened it. Naruto caught a brief glimpse of the man's face just before the rigged eraser fell down, covering the chuunin in white chalk dust. Naruto looked on in horror.

"Wha..." The dust cloud cleared far too fast to be normal, revealing that the man was dyed completely hot pink, from head to toe. Iruka looked completely ridiculous. Naruto was now able to see the other man clearly, and took in the long silver hair and masked face. The man had an eye-smile on the visible portion of his face.

"NARUTO!" The teenager in question flinched, knowing that some punishment was sure to follow.

"Iruka, it's fine. I'll take care of my student's actions." Iruka still seemed livid, but nodded and stormed off. All three heads remaining in the room turned to stare at the man. He had just masterfully countered one of the infamous prankster Naruto's pranks, after all. Then again, that must be fairly simple for a jounin.

The man seemed to glare at the trio with his uncovered eye. Sakura was almost visibly shaking in fear in anticipation of the punishment that this powerful man would deal out.

"Well, I won't punish you for that amusing trap. I would ask you to refrain from attempting to do so again, however." He looked at Naruto when he spoke. Sakura seemed to sag in relief.

"Meet me on the roof in 10 minutes. That will be all." The man vanished in a swirl of leaves. Naruto frowned. The man had not only prevented Naruto's trap from achieving its designated purpose simply by using raw tactics, but he had also made the illusion that he was a kind sensei who wouldn't punish them for small mistakes. In one move, the man had prevented harm and embarrassment to himself and had won over Sakura. Naruto's eyes narrowed. His new sensei seemed to be a dangerous man indeed.

* * *

As the three genin climbed up the final few steps on the staircase and set foot on the Academy's rooftop, Naruto took in his surroundings. He had been here fairly often, finding that it was one of the few places on the Academy grounds where he could be almost guaranteed privacy. This was one of the few places where he simply stopped to let himself relax, the other notable one being on top of the Yondaime's head in the Hokage Monument.

The trio walked over to where their sensei leaned, taking their seats hesitantly after seeing the silver-haired man's motioning. Naruto clutched a pre-made seal, ready to defend himself against the new face if the need arose.

"Well then, why don't we all introduce ourselves? Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future and such. Do you want to start, Blondie?" The man's tone was light, but his gaze was hard and Naruto new that he had been found out.

"In what way? Why don't you introduce yourself, just to give us an example?" Naruto shot back. That would be the best way to gather information on the man, ensuring that he wouldn't miss anything. The man eye-smiled.

"That is certainly true, Uzumaki-san. Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I have some likes and dislikes. I have a few hobbies too. My dreams are none of your business. Well, can you follow that lead?" Naruto frowned. He had prevented any information-gathering that Naruto had planned to do. Well, two could play at that game.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, but I assume that you are already aware of that. I have some likes and dislikes as well. I have a hobby," Kakashi's eyes flickered over to the paper in his pocket, and Naruto knew that he had realized what his hobby was, "and my dream for the future is…" Naruto hesitated. Should he say it? It wouldn't hurt. Kakashi raised his eyebrows and Sasuke and Sakura looked at him with curiosity. Naruto took a deep breath.

"I am going to change the world." The bold proclamation seemed to stun Sakura, interest Sasuke, and please Kakashi.

"Well, that's excellent. You next, Pinkie?" Sakura glared at the nickname, realized that she couldn't just punch this man in the face, and then began her introduction.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are Sasuke-kun," Sakura looked at the person in question and giggled, "my dislikes are Naruto," Naruto and Kakashi both sighed for different reasons, "my hobbies are stalki… I mean admiring someone, and my dream is…" Sakura looked at Sasuke again, blushed, and then fell into a fit of embarrassed giggling. Sasuke looked completely creeped out.

"Okay, then, Emo's next." Sasuke and Sakura both glared, but Naruto just smirked. Maybe this sensei wasn't so bad.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have few likes and many dislikes. My hobbies are training and getting stronger." Sasuke suddenly adopted a colder aura. "My dream, no, my ambition is to revive my clan and kill a certain person." Naruto looked in slight disbelief. The Uchiha was far darker than he had previously thought. Sakura seemed to be soaking it all in happily, and Kakashi looked as if he had expected it.

"All right. That's it for today. We'll start our real test tomorrow, so come early. Make sure you don't eat anything, as I wouldn't want you to through up." All three looked at the older man in surprise. Sakura was the first one to voice the question in all of their heads.

"Test? I thought that we're already genin!" Kakashi shot another eye-smile at the trio.

"Well, we have another test to see the truly qualified. I must warn you: the test has a failing rate of 66%!" Before anyone could react to the news, the jounin vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the three new genin where they were, frozen in shock.

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day, and the merriment in the air felt almost obnoxious to Naruto as he trudged towards the place where he would take his test which apparently two-thirds of participants fail. Of course, Naruto hadn't completely written out the possibility that Kakashi had simply created the statistic as a way of intimidating the prospective team.

There was one thing that Naruto had disregarded completely, and that was the apparent ban on food. The jounin had said that it was a way to prevent regurgitation, but Naruto highly doubted that Kakashi really cared about their well-being in such petty matters. Therefore, Naruto was currently walking towards the training field with a contented stomach, much unlike his own feelings.

After walking for a few dozen minutes while ignoring disgusted looks at him, Naruto finally reached the training ground. There, he saw Sakura staring at Sasuke who seemed to be thinking about something while sitting under a tree. There was no sign of Kakashi.

As he drew closer to his teammates they noticed his approach. Sasuke ignored him completely, but Sakura took her time to berate him.

"Why are you so late, Naruto!" Naruto frowned and walked past the pink-haired girl. The one in question seemed infuriated, but passed the chance to hit Naruto in favor of observing Sasuke once again. Naruto walked to another nearby tree and sat down himself, waiting for their sensei to appear. Unfortunately, his lateness seemed to be a habit. Naruto sighed. He had been doing that quite a bit lately. He closed his eyes and relaxed, letting the darkness overcome him…

"Well, my cute little genin! Are you ready for your test?" Naruto snapped out of the brief nap that he had taken. Looking around, he saw both of his teammates in a similar position to his own.

"Why are you so late?" Sasuke had apparently seen Sakura trembling with the urge to ask the same question and had spared both the kunoichi and the jounin from the task.

"Late? I'm not late!" The silver-haired man seemed to enjoy the looks on the faces of the three genin. Naruto realized what the man's counter to their argument was.

"You never specified a time, did you?" The man eye-smiled at the statement and nodded.

"Yup! That way, I don't have to come up with some lame excuse like getting lost on the road of life!" Naruto looked at the man strangely. Was that even a legitimate excuse?

"Regardless, let me explain your test to you now." All traces of friendliness had disappeared. All three teenagers leaned forward.

"I have two bells here," Kakashi held up the chiming objects, "and your objective is to obtain one by the end of the designated time and bring back to this spot. Any questions?" He looked at the younger three.

Naruto glanced at the other two. It was obvious that a question lingered on all three of their minds. If there were only two bells, then how were all three of them supposed to pass? However, Naruto had the gut feeling that Kakashi wouldn't answer the question if asked.

"None? Well, then, begin!" The jounin pushed a button on an alarm clock and set it down on a tree stump. When he looked back at where the three genin should have been, he encountered nothing but air. Kakashi eye-smiled. Looks like they weren't completely stupid. With a swirl of leaves, the man vanished as well.

* * *

Naruto was crouched in a tree, looking at the silver-haired man in the middle of a clearing. It was obvious that Kakashi didn't expect much out of them, seeing that he was holding a book and reading. Occasionally, a perverted giggle would escape from the shinobi's hidden mouth, giving a clue to exactly what type of book it was. Naruto wrinkled his nose.

"This scene is so good! This book is the best!" Kakashi seemed to be enjoying his free time. He opened the book up to a particularly vulgar picture and seemed to direct the image at a particular book. Realization dawned on Naruto. Quickly taking out a few chakra draining seals, he positioned himself to be able to react quickly.

"PERVERT!" With a loud noise, Sakura sprinted out of the bush and ran straight at the jounin. Within seconds, the man had intercepted the girl and disabled her.

"Now, Sakura, you mustn't let personal feelings overcome you while figh…" Kakashi's lecture was interrupted when Naruto sprang out of his tree, seals at the ready, shuriken thrown. The jounin dodged, but was unprepared for the shuriken to return directly back. Kakashi managed to deflect them, but suddenly felt exhausted.

"What? What did you do?" Naruto smirked.

"Chakra draining seals combined with magnetic ones." He lunged at the bells, but was caught off-guard when Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto whirled around, expecting the attack to come from behind. When none was seen, he looked up. Still, there was no sight of Kakashi.

"Not left, right, or up, then…" Naruto looked down just as he was swallowed by the ground.

"Below!" Kakashi appeared before Naruto. The blonde had sunk down until only his head was showing.

Suddenly, flaming shuriken shot out of the trees. Kakashi simply dodged all of them, caught them, and then sent them back to the thrower. Sasuke jumped out of the foliage and sprinted towards the jounin. Jumping up, the Uchiha sent a powerful kick towards his adversary. Kakashi dodged once again and threw a punch. Sasuke took the attack and used the angular momentum that it created in him to let a powerful punch of his own fly. Kakashi weaved back, but that seemed to be exactly what Sasuke wanted. He began to quickly form some hand seals.

"That sequence… it can't be!" Kakashi seemed surprised, but recovered enough to jump and land behind the sunken Naruto. Sasuke simply continued the seal sequence and took a deep breath. With a roar, a flaming, superheated ball of fire shot straight towards the other two. Kakashi simply moved to the side, but it hit Naruto head-on, leaving no trace of him.

"I'm disappointed, Sasuke. You just killed your teammate." The Uchiha snarled.

"I don't care. The weak will only hold me back!" Sasuke lifted his hand and hundreds of shuriken flew towards the jounin from Sasuke's preset traps. The situation seemed unavoidable. Kakashi threw Naruto's magnetized shuriken away, leading Sasuke's own to follow them. However, by the time the metal flurry had ceased, Sasuke was long gone. Walking closer to the spot where Naruto had been, Kakashi found a damaged seal construct etched into the ground. Naruto had made his escape as well. Looking around, he saw that Sakura's body had vanished alongside her teammates. So far, Kakashi thought, the team seemed to be doing far better than his previous ones.

* * *

Naruto panted, gasping for air. Even though the jounin had seemed distracted, he had easily countered Naruto's techniques. Getting a bell would need far more elaborate planning. Naruto grinned. He had the perfect way to do it. However, the consequences of failing would be severe. Naruto shook his head. There was no way he could fail.

* * *

Kakashi walked into another clearing, quite a distance from the first one. However, they looked to be quite similar. The jounin glanced around quickly and then sensed for any chakra readings. He detected two, seemingly Sakura and Sasuke. He waited in the middle, expecting one of them to attack soon. Indeed, he was correct, for a few shuriken lunched themselves at his feet, obviously aiming to move his course backwards.

With a cry, Sakura ran out of the cover of the vegetation and threw another volley of shuriken. Kakashi deflected them all, but they were simply a screen for the three explosive tag-primed kunai that she hurled after. Kakashi threw a kunai of his own which hit all three and deflected them away. The resulting explosions kicked up a screen of dirt. Kakashi felt a hand next to his waist and kicked Sakura away. The girl cried out in pain and stopped. Kakashi frowned. Sakura had made a decent strategy right there, but her physical skills were rather lacking. Of course, discounting when she hit others.

Suddenly, a kunai hit the ground next to Sakura. The girl flinched, revealing her feigning. A rope appeared, tightening around the girl's waist, and slung Sakura up to the high treetops. Kakashi saw dozens of exploding tags littering her surroundings. He growled. Sakura was still technically a civilian, so if she died he would be facing consequences from the Civilian Council, especially since Sakura's mother was a prominent figure in the organization. Kakashi channeled chakra to his feet and jumped, grabbing Sakura and quickly landing on a safe tree. Unfortunately, the said tree was engraved with additional seal carvings. Kakashi swore.

With a slight poof, the jounin's surroundings were filled with a light blue powder. The silver-haired man was blinded momentarily. Taking care not to breath the stuff in, Kakashi jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground, depositing Sakura soon after.

Before he could catch his breath, another volley of shuriken shot at him. Kakashi attempted to speed up his reaction time using chakra but found himself unable to do so. Swearing again, he caught five kunai and threw them back at the charging Sasuke. That powder had drained his energy almost completely.

With a cry, Sasuke blew another fireball at is adversary. Kakashi grimaced. Barely dodging the attack, he launched forwards. If he was unable to use chakra, taijutsu was his best bet. The two geniuses collided in a high-speed fistfight. Sasuke threw a barrage of attacks, only to find them deflected by Kakashi. The exhausted jounin found himself unable to do anything but defend. What was that powder? However, Kakashi wasn't a jounin for no reason. Within a couple of seconds, he overpowered Sasuke and drew his fist back. He had won this round.

A bright, shining light stopped both of the fighters from continuing momentarily. Squinting his eyes, Kakashi saw that a small slip of paper seemed to be the source. His eyes widened, but before he could react, his world exploded.

* * *

Naruto looked at the effects of his trap. Sasuke seemed to be out for the count while Kakashi appeared to have been blown back into a bush. With a smirk, the blonde shinobi jumped from his treetop perch and into the clearing. All that was left was to collect the bell.

"Checkmate, sensei." Naruto approached the bush and parted the branches. A block of wood greeted him there. Naruto spun around, only to find Kakashi pressing a kunai at his neck. The man seemed livid. In the distance, the clock rang, signaling the end of the test. Naruto gulped.

* * *

"Why am _I_ tied to the post? I had the most success! If you hadn't switched out at the last minute, I would have won!" All of the shinobi had come to the original starting place to see the results. Naruto was tied to a wooden post with Sasuke and Sakura sitting next to him, both sour-faced.

"You put your own teammates in danger. That is inexcusable." Kakashi seemed to be in as slightly better mood, but was obviously still pissed off at Naruto's actions.

"I keep on telling you! Those explosive tags weren't real and the final explosion was set to just knock you guys out!"

"Regardless, you used them as bait. That's equally unexcusable." Naruto seemed to realize that arguing wasn't getting him anywhere.

"As a punishment for failing the test, none of you will eat lunch. I'm leaving for a bit to eat my own." Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves. Naruto turned to his other teammates. Sasuke glared at him while Sakura looked on in disappointment.

"Great, Naruto. Now you made Kakashi-sensei mad at us. I can't believe that you actually used us as bait, though!" Naruto looked at Sakura without emotion. "I'm super hungry too!"

"Here. Take this then, if it makes you shut up." The ropes binding Naruto vanished, and a small quantity of food appeared in front of the trio. "I stole it from Kakashi-sensei." Obviously, it was a lie, but Naruto realized that the fact that the man hadn't failed them already meant that he really couldn't fail them easily, the last Uchiha being on the team and all. Of course, the jounin seemed to be looking for something, and Naruto could only think of a few things: strength, which was unlikely; intelligence, which most of them had already demonstrated; or teamwork. Naruto decided to test the latter option.

Sakura looked at the meal in trepidation, but decided to dig in after her stomach made a pitiful growling noise. After a few moments, Sasuke joined her.

"Don't you want any, Naruto?" The boy in question shook his head.

"Nah. I'm not hungry." Sakura shrugged and continued chomping down the food.

Suddenly, a loud, booming noise was heard. A myriad of clouds appeared in the distance. All three genin adopted defensive postions. Kakashi appeared in front of them, looking absolutely and royally pissed off.

"ALL OF YOU…" The three looked on in terror, "…pass!" Kakashi adopted an eye-smile.

"W-what?" It couldn't have been more apparent that the three genin were as confused as could be.

"The true meaning behind this test was teamwork. Although you failed the initial portion, this was more than enough for me to pass you." Sakura laughed in delight and Sasuke even smiled.

"Let this be a lesson. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. Never forget that." Kakashi stayed silent for a moment, allowing the message to sink into the genin. After a brief silence, he spoke again.

"Well, now that we're a team, we'll meet at this training ground at the same time which you reached here, every day. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Hnnn. Just don't hold me back, losers." Sasuke said. Sakura squealed at the display of coolness. Naruto glared at the Uchiha. He needed to set things straight.

"Let me tell you now, just for future reference. I don't trust any of you, and I don't think of you as my friends. I have the same reasons as the Uchiha. I will get stronger and change the world. Don't expect my friendship, and don't hold me back. With that, I'll see you tomorrow."

Walking away, he could practically feel Sakura's shock and Sasuke's slight grudging respect. Naruto sighed once again. He heard Kakashi speak.

"Looks like a fun team, Team 7!"

* * *

Second chapter done, sorry for the wait. I'm still following the basic plot of canon, though that could change. As you can probably tell, I'm attempting to make Naruto relatively powerful, but not _too_ powerful. There will be realistic progression.

As a note, I am not attempting to bash any character, though it may seem like it with Sakura. I'm simply attempting to portray all unchanged characters at the same skill level that I think they were at in each point of the story in canon.

If you have any reasonable and constructive advice, please mention it to me and I will gratefully take it.

Finally, please continue to read and review!


	5. Chapter 3: The Dark Leaf

**Chapter 3: The Dark Leaf**

* * *

A wizened, old man sat alone in a shadowed, wide office room behind a large desk. Stacks of paperwork were present on the said piece of furniture, but the man seemed to be expecting someone. With a sigh, he lifted his pipe to his mouth and puffed on it. His eyes flickered to a drawer on his desk, but before he could go further, a slight noise made him straighten up.

"Kakashi." The other man stepped into the light, revealing his lopsided silver hair and covered eye.

"Hokage-sama." The reply was short, brief, and carried a tone that the Third Hokage did not like at all.

"How is he?" Even as he asked, the old man knew that he wouldn't like the answer.

"I'm afraid that he is… well… quite messed up, actually. I visited his house and was assaulted by dozens of seal traps, all of which were deadly and would be unnecessarily gory if activated. He suffers from extreme paranoia and insomnia, which is actually good for a shinobi career but bad for a boy so young. He also has extreme trust issues. I doubt that anything I do will help with that."

Hiruzen sighed. He hadn't expected any better. After shifting some papers to other stacks, he turned back towards the jounin.

"Continue your observations. That is all." The ex-ANBU nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the office with just one occupant yet again.

* * *

It was another ordinary morning, and Naruto hated it. As a newly formed genin team, he knew that they would be doing the most menial and pointless tasks for some time, but that definitely didn't mean that he liked it. The team had just finished watering some elderly civilian's gardens (and had received a smaller payment than originally due because the demon was there) and were now heading back to the Hokage Tower in order to pick up some other chore. Naruto grit his teeth but endured it. He would get nowhere by fighting the system; at least, not yet.

"Kakashi-sensei, can we take a break?" Naruto glanced over at his pink-haired teammate who was already sweating rather heavily. Looking over at his sensei, Naruto saw that no answer was necessary. Kakashi eye-smiled.

"No." Sakura sulked for the rest of the trip.

* * *

After entering the large tower for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, the team headed over to the mission assignments area where they were greeted by a long line. Unable to hold back a groan, Naruto closed his eyes and began the wait. Konoha's system worked well for sure. Because each genin team's sensei didn't actually participate in the labor, they were able to report back to the tower even before the task was completed. Therefore, jobs were pre-assigned to individual teams. This created an efficient system with few mistakes. However, the occasional jounin with a high-ranked mission caused some disruptions.

"Next!" Naruto started. While he was spacing out, they had reached the front of the line. Resisting the urge to insist on getting a higher-ranked mission, such as a C-rank, Naruto braced himself for their new assignment. Kakashi stepped forwards to receive it.

"Here ya go." The bored chuunin at the desk handed the silver-haired man a scroll. Kakashi in turn passed it on to Sasuke. Their sensei eye-smiled and vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the unfortunate genin to complete their next task.

* * *

"So, what was the mission again?" Naruto asked, bored, as the three walked in the blazing sun. Sasuke simply tossed the scroll over in response. Catching it, Naruto read the intricate handwriting.

"Deliver the attached package to the following address without damaging it in any way. Burn this message immediately after memorizing the information." Narrowing his eyes, Naruto looked at the message again. Why was the scroll so… fancy, for a lack of a better term? The entire thing seemed suspicious, especially since the instructions left them unable to even try to figure out what the package contained.

As he looked around, Naruto began to feel even more uneasy. The population density was visually getting thinner with each step, and the neighborhoods and districts of Konoha that the three-man cell was passing were distinctly rough. It may have just been his long acquired paranoia, but Naruto knew that it was better to be safe than sorry.

The blonde stopped and crouched to the ground. Both of his teammates looked back.

"What are you doing, Naruto? Come on!" Naruto put the scroll on the ground and picked up a nearby leaf. He could see that the other two were curious now as well. Naruto took out his old pair of goggles and aimed one of the glasses at the leaf. The magnification of the light focused heat on a specific spot on the leaf, making it burn slightly.

"Oh, are you just burning it?" Sakura asked. Naruto shook his head impatiently. Once a sufficient amount of fine ash was created, he dusted the powder on the lower portion of the scroll. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he heard Sasuke tense up slightly behind him. Sakura looked at them, confused.

"What's wrong?" Naruto looked over his shoulder to stare at his teammate with a grim expression. The ash had revealed some characters etched into the paper, seemingly a sum of money.

"Who pays 1,200,000 ryo for a D-ranked mission?"

* * *

It was complete darkness, a pitch-black area. One was unable to tell anything about their surroundings or surrounding people, which was precisely what the creator had intended. A slight whooshing noise announced the arrival of a shinobi into the shadows.

"The trap has been set. It should be over soon." The first voice said in a hushed manner. It seemed respectful, as if addressing a superior.

"I see. Make sure there are no complications." The second voice had a tone of authority, one that signified that its possessor was a prominent person.

"Yes, sir." Another whooshing sound ended the audience. The bearer of the second voice chuckled slightly. With this phase finished, they would be able to proceed with the next part of the plan.

* * *

"Well… here we are…" Sakura said, her tone obviously being nervous. The three stood before a shabby home, estranged from its neighboring buildings. Naruto dropped a few replacement seals on the ground in case something happened inside. With the feeling that he was getting, something was going to happen.

"You don't suppose that we can… I dunno… not do this mission?" Sakura whimpered.

"Sakura… once we accept the mission, we have to see it through, unless there are obvious circumstances that demand otherwise. A gut feeling isn't going to cut it in that category." Sasuke replied.

With a deep breath, the three opened slammed open the door. Thick shadows lingered everywhere, the sun's rays only managing to illuminate a small fraction of the building's contents. Cobwebs hung at every noticeable corner. Dust lined the furniture. The house had been uninhabited for a long time.

Slowly, Naruto inched in, carrying the package. The message hadn't specified where to leave it, so he would have to find out. He heard wood creak behind him and tensed, but it was just Sasuke and Sakura following him.

"Backs to each other. I'm getting a bad feeling." Naruto whispered. The other two nodded and moved into the defensive formation. The trip crept in, with Sasuke using a small fire jutsu to light up their immediate surroundings. Naruto didn't feel any better, however. He definitely did not trust his teammates enough to leave them with full protection of his back. Discreetly, he placed carefully chosen seals on objects that he passed. In the case of a fight, he would make sure that he had the advantage.

As the team moved past a corner, Sasuke immediately directed his light to the other edge. Naruto looked back momentarily before continuing. They were completely enveloped in darkness now. The house's door had been closed. The blonde gripped the package closer to his chest.

"Sasuke! Stop your technique! We're being hunted!" Sasuke tensed and looked back, releasing the fire jutsu immediately after. The shadows swept over the trio.

Right as Sasuke shut off the light source, Naruto glimpsed a shadowed figure leap towards them. In near perfect synchronization, he ripped open the package. There was a brief flash of light in which Naruto saw the object within. It was a glowing orb, covered in seal constructs, with a spiral pattern etched into it that seemed eerily recognizable to Naruto. Then, the world exploded.

* * *

The Third Hokage sighed as he inspected the damage done to one of Konoha's lower-class neighborhoods. It was apparent that an explosion had taken place, originating from a certain building. Shards of wood were strewn all over the place. The fires had been put out, but the damage had been done.

Twenty buildings had been completely destroyed, with a dozen more damaged from the sheer force of the blast. As if that wasn't enough, the Hokage had just learned even worse news.

Thirteen civilian casualties with four shinobi. Luckily, it was a holiday, so most people were out in the commercial area of the village. Otherwise, the headache would have been even larger. The old man rubbed his forehead. All four of the injured shinobi were the members of Team 7. Of course.

* * *

Naruto was really not enjoying these low-ranked missions which seemed to explode right in his face. Literally. Luckily, he was able to grab his teammates and swap with his seals before the explosion had taken place. Unluckily, the fourth person in the building had been dragged along with them. Even more unluckily, the additional load had made the replacement range not as long as Naruto would have liked. Also, although they weren't right next to the origin of the blast, it still hurt like hell. Needless to say, he really wasn't in a cooperative mood. He wanted answers.

The doors to his hospital room were slammed open. A few shinobi strode in.

"Uzumaki-san, you are being detained for being a suspect in the bombing that happened this morning." Naruto glared. He had, in truth, half-expected something like this to happen, but that didn't mean that he would go without a fight. Naruto reached for a chakra-leaching seal before a voice stopped him.

"That's wrong! We were there! He didn't do it!" Naruto looked for the source of the voice in surprise. To his shock, Sakura was standing in the doorway, heavily bandaged, next to an equally injured Sasuke. The other shinobi looked around.

"It's true. I can confirm it. I was in the building with them." Everyone turned to look at the window, where an injured, but still poised, silver-haired man stood.

"Hatake-san! Oh… well… I guess we were mistaken." With that, the intruders left. Kakashi jumped off of the windowsill and landed next to Naruto.

"What are you trying to do? I don't owe any of you a favor." Sakura looked at her blonde teammate, this time being the shocked one.

"What are you talking about? I was just sticking up for my teamma…" She stopped when Naruto intensified his glare, realizing that Naruto didn't believe a single word that she was saying.

"Anyways," Kakashi said, to break the tense silence, "I'm sure that you all want answers."

"And I will give them to you." With a swirl of leaves, the Third Hokage appeared in the room. Ignoring Sakura's cries of 'Hokage-sama!' and Naruto's scowl, he walked over to the window and sat on the sill.

"The mission which you received was meant to go to a high-level jounin. Although this is a serious mix-up to begin with, as an ordinary team of fresh genin would be slaughtered on such a high-caliber mission, the assignment which you acquired was a fake." The Hokage paused here, taking in Sakura's gasp, the widening of Sasuke's eyes, and Naruto's stoic demeanor.

"The mission was hidden within the legitimate ones in order for it to be completed, unnoticed, while the perpetrator doesn't need to get their hands dirty. With further analysis of the fragments of the sphere that were collected, the explosive seals shouldn't have detonated so easily. I assume the reason for the blast was because alternate seal constructs interfered with it." Everyone's eyes shifted to Naruto, who scowled again.

"However, that does not mean that the blame goes to you. The house was just a meeting place, and although we were unable to confirm the identity of the recipient, we are able to say with certainty that they are," the old man paused, "a highly ranked Konoha official." This time, even the emotionless Naruto wasn't able to keep the shock off of his face. The Hokage nodded.

"Yes, it is as you fear. Konoha seems to be on the brink of a civil war. However, that does not have to do with what I am going to tell you next. You will be continuing this mission." There was a slight pause.

"What!"

"How can you expect us…!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"LISTEN!" The others stopped their protests immediately. "I know this is a strange request, but the fact that you were involved is a well-known one. Due to that, our mystery adversary will pay close attention to you three. Because of that, we may find a clue to who they are. Of course, in my personal opinion, this mystery official is too intelligent to be fooled by such tactics, and will therefore remove all connections from Team 7. However they are, they will not be able to investigate your 'deaths' and the circumstances behind it all. So, you are the only team which is, essentially, invisible to our enemy." As the Hokage ended his speech, he scanned the room. He needed to do some more convincing. Sasuke may agree, simply to get revenge, and Sakura would blindly follow her idol, but the introverted and paranoid Naruto would be far more difficult to persuade.

"I'll do it." The old man looked at the voice's owner and saw, to his shock, that it was Naruto who had spoken up first. Then his eyes narrowed. He had seen the projected image of the orb after analysis of the fragments, and he knew what the spiral symbolized. Did Naruto have this information?

"I'll go too." As expected, Sasuke was on board without worry. Sakura nodded hesitantly as well.

"Perfect. Now, you cannot come to me or anyone else for assistance in this matter. You, Team 7, must treat every citizen of Konoha as your enemy if you want to have even the slightest chance of success. Your closest family, your best friends, everyone must and will be treated as an enemy. Do this, or Konoha will fall." With that, the Hokage walked out of the room, leaving its remaining members in a shocked silence.

"Well, my cute little genin, would you like to begin?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Hnnn. I don't have any relationships left anyways." Sasuke muttered.

"I guess…" Sakura seemed to be taking this news the hardest, being the most socially active.

Naruto grinned, his eyes filled with insane light.

"Perfect. Everyone was my enemy to begin with."

Within a few hours, it was announced that the four unfortunate members of Team 7 were killed in the explosion. The citizens of Konoha didn't know it, but the hidden village would be shaken to its core.

* * *

Naruto stepped into the dusty, dark building, quietly closing the door behind him. Pulling out a seal construct from his pocket, Naruto walked forwards, into the shadows. The small piece of paper suddenly flashed with brilliant light, illuminating the blonde genin's surroundings. Everywhere he looked, there were books. The place looked the same as it had before, when his sensei was still alive. Naruto growled at the memory. He hadn't come back to this place for years, the memories of his short-lived happiness being too much for him to bear. Thus, he had sealed the entire building, nearly making it vanish from existence. Of course, he couldn't possibly completely let it go, so he had kept a key. Naruto grinned. Good thing he had.

The boy walked to a certain area between two large shelves, spotting the tarnished metal handle. He opened it with some difficulty. Walking in, he looked around, immediately finding what he was looking for. A large painting of a beautiful woman with red hair hung on a nearby wall. The picture had always tugged at a deeply buried memory, but that wasn't what Naruto wanted. He looked at the woman's clothes.

A spiral design was embroidered in it.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto touched the pattern. It seemed… familiar. Suddenly, the spiral ignited with a harsh, blinding light. The blonde threw himself to the ground and braced for another explosion. However, the glow died down without incident. Naruto warily glanced at the painting, only to see that it had vanished. In its place was a hole in the wall, leading to some hidden chamber. Naruto slowly climbed into the passageway, crawling in order to duck through the low ceiling. It may have just been his imagination, but the passage seemed to be gatting smaller and smaller. Even though he didn't have claustrophobia, it still made him quite uncomfortable. He concentrated on moving forwards one elbow at a time.

Within a minute, Naruto fell. Picking himself up quickly, he observed his surroundings, tensed, only to stare in awe. He stood in an impressive chamber, probably having the same volume as the Hokage Tower. How it fit, Naruto had no idea. However, that wasn't the incredible thing by far. Most of the area was taken up by a giant machine, etched with complex, intricate seals. The entire construct was centered on one, small chamber in the middle. The designs on the thing were so fine that it seemed like they were thinner than a hair. Naruto moved forwards to continue his observations, but a seal flared to life at his feet flung him backwards before flickering out. The place was obviously old.

Naruto got up once again, rubbing his head, when he spotted a nearby booth. Quickly walking over, he saw that it was almost nearly destroyed. Only five words were visible, written in what he recognized as his sensei's handwriting: _Hiraishin Project… DANGEROUS… __MUST DESTROY_. Naruto glanced at the machine once again. This time, the illumination from his glowing seal construct was reflected back slightly. It was a golden glimmer. Naruto stepped closer. He spotted a circular, gold object displaying the same spiral pattern as the other times. As if that wasn't peculiar enough, the space around the object was warped, as if it was there, but _not quite_ there. Naruto stepped forwards some more, but a seal ignited once again and flung him backwards. Someone really didn't want anyone to get close to that thing. Naruto examined the seal, but it flickered out once again.

Looking back at the golden object, Naruto felt a small piece of his memory surface. He remembered that his sensei had briefly held it during their first, chaotic encounter. He shook his head. He had only come here to alleviate his curiosity. He would need to create a seal that could nullify the barrier constructs before being able to move forward. Although the Konoha's potential civil war and this hidden room in a forgotten library of seals seemed completely estranged from one another, Naruto knew that there was a connection. He would find it. He had to know.

Turning away from the machine, Naruto crawled into the passageway, the giant chamber getting darker and darker as the only light source went further and further away. The only thing that could be seen now was a brief golden twinkle of light. In the next moment, everything went pitch-black.

* * *

Chapter 3 finished! Sorry for the horribly late update! I was on vacation, and once I came back I was extremely busy.

The three polls that were up are now closed and will be taken into account while writing the story.

Once again, please review!


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